LJUBLJANA-A DAY TRIP PART THREE

1941 Library
Lovely, just the right size, Opera House

It was a lovely Saturday in June. The Capital was alive with shoppers and day trippers, enjoying the spring-like weather. We visited St. Nicolas Cathedral c.1461, which is immensely Baroque and had hosted Napoleon, all the Austrian emperors, Tsar Alexander and Pope Paul II. During Saturdays much of the town is devoted to marketing, and large portions are set aside for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The markets are loosely organized by product: flowers, fish, produce, clothing and so forth.

For each product there were dozens of stalls, mostly all selling the same items.

During our saunter we found the Parliament building, an unimposing structure, a delightful Opera/Ballet house, the national museum (closed at the time for renovation) and a very modern department store in the style found in Germany. Buildings everywhere were in need of repair, unfortunately many of them leftovers from the socialist building spree of the 1960s that would be better torn down and replaced.

While on buildings however, the famous Slovenian architect and city planner Joze Plecnik must be mentioned. Born in 1872, he designed building throughout Slovenia from 1921 until his death in 1957. He defies description, being at the same time Secessionist and Art Moderne, but including features unique to him. You should look at two of his notable achievements, the Three Bridges, a single span over the Ljubljana River and the University library, c.1941

I think what I likes most about our day trip was the impression that Ljubljana, or at least the city center. can be easily maneuvered through, with a small-town feel of people knowing and meeting each other.. A young "old city" just right for a university city and artistic features the contribute to the fuller life for all its citizens.

LJUBLJANA- A DAY TRIP PART TWO

Many structures compete in the center of the capital, three bridges converge, and three architectural styles are seen; Art Deco in the distance, Italian Rococo on the left and French Empire. A delightful, compact city square.

Just a little more of Ljubljana's fascinating history. The ancient Romans established a military camp named Emona that by the 6th century AD had developed in the town Julia Aemona. The site of present day Ljubljana has been occupied continuously for well over 2000 years. Ljubljana is not only the political capital of Slovenia it is the cultural, economic and and educational capital as well. Nothing of importance occurs in Slovenia without a connection to Ljubljana. An important but short-lived moment for Ljubljana was its selection by Napoleon for the capital of his new province of Illyria, which was to counter Hapsburg power and limit their access to the Adriatic.

This short exposure to French egalitarianism lasted only a few years, 1809 until 1813, but it set the stage for Slovene independence movements henceforth. In Ljubljana's French Revolution Square there is an Illyrian Pillardedicated in 1929 in remembrance of the short-lived Illyrian Province's and those heady days when so many reforms were introduced, including the use of the Slovene language in compulsory education, only later to be suppressed with the return of Hapsburg control. Napoleon is to this day highly regarded by the Slovene people for his reforms.